Winter's coming. The diving platform is being readied to take out for the season. This was taken at one of our local lakes during my daily five-mile stroll.

 October 17, 2012 – Wednesday

39 degree/partly cloudy

Pentoga Road

The furnace was churning out hot air in the dark and early morning hours. Two floors above, I was lying in bed, only half awake, dreaming how nice it would be getting up to a warm house when the reality of the price of heating oil galloped into my semi-consciousness. The mere thought was enough to drive me from between the sheets so I might build a fire in the wood stove.

My sight may not be 20/20, but there’s nothing wrong with my hearing. The furnace is in the north end of the basement. We sleep two floors above on the south end of the house. When the furnace is running, just the air coming through the vents usually awakens me. A marching band could be parading through our bedroom and I’d not hear it, but let $4-plus a gallon oil be torched in the name of comfort and I’m wide-awake.

Who needs Christmas decorations when Halloween is just around the corner?

Tuesday was a mixed hodgepodge of activities. I was disappointed to discover nothing had come near my traps. I’m not surprised. As I told someone yesterday, it would take a coyote who is blinder and dumber than the trapper to step foot in one. Still, it’s a matter of numbers. Somewhere out there in the big woods of the UP, there’s a stupid canine that will eventually wander into one of my traps.

I’d taken pictures of the sets I made on Monday. Yesterday I uploaded them onto my computer, enlarged the images and studied each.  After, I went back and made (what I hope) are improvements. We’ll see after the sun rises this morning.

I thoroughly enjoyed my five-mile walk yesterday morning. The skies were threatening, but in the end, the sun was peeking out before I arrived home.

A neighbor who lives a mile up the road and whom I’d never met, was taking a letter to her mailbox, so I took the occasion of walking past to introduce myself. Since there are only four of us who live on this three mile-long road, she knew who we were. Nice folks.

Mmm, a baked apple covered with sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and milk. The perfect snack.

I went to town in search of peat moss. When it rains and dirt that is normally sifted over the traps has turned to mud or is frozen, peat moss serves as a great substitute. Since the gardening season is finished, I paid an arm and a leg for a small bag. Thankfully, I don’t need very much.

I also purchased a plat book from the Chamber of Commerce. It’s amazing to see how many public lands there are in the area. Michigan has a great program that allows a huge tax break for private individuals who own large tracts of land and open it to public use. There are over four hundred acres that join my property. I’ll be exploring more in the next week for muskrat and mink trapping.

Stopping to see Mark was next on the agenda. I noticed his assistant, Ann, wasn’t around and Mark was on the phone and had a person waiting to see him. I quietly turned around and left.

Mark was involved in an accident on Sunday while coming home from one of their plants in Kentucky. Another person hit the company truck Mark was driving and totaled the vehicle. Thankfully, my Yooper brother escaped with a few boo boos, but wasn’t seriously injured. I’m going to start calling him “Lucky” in honor of Lucky LeLott, the famous stunt car dare devil of the 1950’s and 60’s. Ol’ Lucky was big on the county fair circuit in the Midwest and awed rural crowds the nation over.

Arriving home, I once again set about making another coyote set and fixing those I’d made on Monday. This morning will tell the tale.

I talked with son, Luke, yesterday, who gave me some pointers and suggestions. He’s leaving this weekend to head to his mother’s in northern Maine for a week of trapping and bird hunting. I wish I could go with him. He’ll be trapping the areas down by the river and in the big woods that we used for so many years while the boys were growing up. Someday, maybe I’ll go out east during the season and tromp around with him. It would be fun to do it once again.

I took an hour and a half break from the outdoors yesterday to read and grade assignments. It’s hard to believe the semester is half over. I thought time flew when I was teaching fulltime in Alaska. It’s absolutely screaming now that I’m retired.

Sargie arrived home well after dark last night and I was still in the woods. After this, I’ll leave a note on the door so she doesn’t worry. I set up the trail cam in front of a set. Sounds like something that could be neat to watch.

I started assembling mink and ermine boxes in the barn late yesterday afternoon. They’ll make my life a bit easier when the season begins in another week. Basically, the set is made in the box and the box is simply set out along a stream bank.

We watched the debate last night. Regardless who wins, I’ll be happy when the election season is finished. I’m about “he said/she said” up to my eyeteeth. I won’t be watching the last debate. My blood pressure gets way too high.

It’s time to throw another lawg on the far, refill my cup of coffee and wake Sargie so she can spend yet another day saving the eyeballs of America.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Sargie and I grew tired of playing dominoes in the conventional manner so we invented a new game called, "Pick Up Dominioes!" As you can see, it's played on floor level.